? national security correspondent jennifer griffin is at the pentagon tonight. >> for the past 19 year 12 yeare u.s. held asymmetric advantage over the enemies with unmanned aerial surveillance. for first time, the u.s. agreed to sell predators to allies in the middle east. uae, defense official announced the deal at the larmest arms exposition. sources close to deal confirm the uae agreed to buy $1.4 billion in u.s. weapons including $200 million in unarmed predator drones. about 20 remotely piloted aircraft from the jep atomic aeronautical system. the predators would be modified and unarmed but there is no way to be sure they would remain that way. >> people are pretty innovative in terms of being able to modify aircraft so they could be armed. so it's certainly not fool-proof. >> the former u.s. air force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is not opposed to deal because it gives those in the gulf greater advantage over the me is especially as the concerns rise above iran. >> we have a particular asymmetric advantage with remotely aircraft an

800,000 defense department layoffs that will happen as a result. that would be pentagon comptroller robert heale taking it in stride. he said when i walk down the hall, they still wave, but with fewer fingers. >>> that's it for "hardball." coming up next, "your business with j.j. ramberg." n can replen. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno. i got your campbell's chunky soup. mom? who's mom? i'm the giants mascot. the giants don't have a mascot! ohhh! eat up! new jammin jerk chicken soup has tasty pieces of chicken with rice and beans. hmmm. for giant hunger! thanks mom! see ya! whoaa...oops! mom? i'm ok. grandma? hi sweetie! she operates the head. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

policy was, he is going to be the head of the pentagon. well it raises questions on shows like this but it will not affect --. >>chris: it would not raise a question in your mind? >>guest: he because not as crisp as he might have been but he misspoke it wasn't as if he projected a real difference on policy with the administration. what matters is how he performs as secretary of state. behalf nature set the bar high and i think chuck hagel will clear that bar. >>chris: laura, during his testimony he did not seem to know or think much about major issues of the pentagon or funding and he calls the iranian government elected? >>guest: the russians and chinese were it will watching how this played out because bill kristol was right saying it was not second rate performance it could have been the worst performance that ever took place at a confirmation hearing and that is saying something. as the secretary of defense it should not be that you won two purple hearts in battle. his patriotism is not questioned. merit should count. he is going to have to stand up against american military tha

pentagon chief will stop at nothing. they're trying to slow the process of his confirmation, anything to give them time to find something to bring the man down. question, who are they try king to bring down? is it president obama's pick for secretary of defense? or is it the man the american people have chosen? is it about a confirmation or a desperate push to undermine the president's second term. listen to those attacking senator hagel and you'll hear the yelps of pain, this motley crew of neocons and the sun belt feel. what they hate, despise, really, is the fact that now in the history books, the american people voting in great numbers reject their war-reich jinglistic notions of what america stands for. their problem is with america's choice of who it wants to be president. who it wants to sign. and what we should be doing in this world. obama works for peace. he works hard for it. this crowd has other ideas. and that's "hardball" for now. happy valentine's, everybody. what a day. and thanks for being with us tonight. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. >> thanks, c

pentagon choice. who's got it about america, him or them? back on march. market on a tear, way up at 14,000. but that schedule add cross-the-board spending cut that seems unthinkable is now assumed. seriously, are we looking at first of march calamity? finally, guns and race. half of white men in america own guns. do you believe it? barack obama lost two-thirds of white men who didn't go to college, first wipeout since walter mondale lost 49 states to 1. can the president ever crack through that? hi, i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us today presidential historian michael beschloss. cook political report amy walter. "the washington post's" henderson and "the new york times"'s david henderhard. have the republicans turn turned up the heat on barack obama now even before he won re-election? we saw in there temporary the defeat of chuck hagel's nomination, leaving the president without a pentagon secretary and there seems to be more where that came from. we decide to look at how this past tuesday, state of the union day played out starting with valerie jarrett on "morning j

private sector, including serving on the board of a major contractor with the pentagon. mr. gates gave speeches, lots of them, for which he was paid plenty. but when bob gates testified before the senate, the subject of his private sector earnings never came up. after five hours of non-confrontational questions, the committee volt ford him unanimously. and then when it went to the full senate they confirmed him 95-2. the nominee before, that remember this guy? donald rumsfeld, 2001. donald rumsfeld, of course, had made zillions in the private sector. he sat on the board of a company that was believed to have won a giant contract to help north korea build nuclear reactors. but when donald rumsfeld testified before the senate, they didn't ask about the stock that he held or his roles in international business. they didn't even ask about the north korean reactors. they recommended his nomination to the full senate where he was confirmed in another vote of 95-2. so if history has anything to say about it, then what's happening to chuck hagel right now is not at all normal. it is not the re

pentagon chief will stop at nothing. they're out there beating the bushes right now for anything that will slow the process of his confirmation, anything that will give them more time to find something they can build enough on to bring the man down. question. who are they trying to bring down? is it president obama's pick for secretary of defense? or is it the man the american people have chosen? is it about a confirmation or a desperate push to undermine the president's second term? listen to those attacking senator hagel, and you hear the yelps of pain this motley crew of neocons and right-wingers from the sun belt feel even though from the american people's choice of last november. what they hate, despise really, is the fact now in the history books that the american people in great numbers reject their war-like jingoistic notions of what america stands for. their problem is not with obama's choice for a cabinet appointment. their problem is with america's choice of who it wants to be president, who it wants deciding what we should be doing in this world. obama works for peace. he

, washington. >>> president obama's nominee to run the pentagon will have to wait at least another week for an up or down vote in the senate. but it now appears chuck hagel will get that vote when senators return. at least two top republicans say they will stop efforts to stall his confirmation. that filibuster came a day after hagel was approved by the armed services by a party-line vote. one of his most vocal opponents says while he doesn't believe hagel is qualified, he won't hold up the process. >> i thought we had an agreement to wait a week so the remaining questions would be answered, but i understand the white house wanted a vote. they got a vote. we will have a vote when we get back. i'm confident that senator hagel will probably have the votes necessary to be confirmed as the secretary of defense. >> the gop it says blocked hagel's nomination in an effort to further examine his record and views on israel and iran. senate majority leader harry reid hopes to bring a final vote to the floor when congress goes back in session next monday. >>> residents in coastal new england are c

pentagon like this. we've had fat in the pentagon for 30 years. nobody's done a damn thing about it. if there's a compromise on sequester, some good things will happen because there are some people that are going to get hurt if we go over the cliff, but we have an opportunity here to cut the most bloated agency in all of government and serious cutting, and i think we ought to take it. >> we could take $45 billion this year out of the military budget. you're okay with that? >> yes, i am. and i think we can do that and we can make it work. you know there, have been tons of programs in the pentagon that the pentagon never wanted. that congresspeople have put in there. >> sure. howard dean, great to have you with us. always. >> thanks. >> appreciate it. wayne lapierre might be one of the greatest hucksters of all time. i'll show you what's behind his paranoia campaign next. tea party backers show a perverse sense of humor by creating a hillary clinton sex tape. david corn broke the story. he joins us on the panel tonight. stay with us. ♪ you know my heart burns for you... ♪ i'm up n

wrong. national security correspondent jennifer griffin tells us what that means. >> the pentagon using misleading figures about the war in afghanistan and how well it is going. >> this is a regrettable error indy the base system that was discovered in a routine quality check. we are making the appropriate adjustments. the assessment is positive. >> the u.s. -led military coalition in afghanistan incorrectly reported a decline in taliban attacks last year. reporting attacks were down by 7%. a fact that drove the obama administration narrative the strategy was working allowing u.s. troops to come home early. >> i don't know of any overt action to cook the books if you will in afghanistan. but everyone i talk to testifies to a subtle pressure. on the part of commanders in the field to shape the narrative in afghanistan as positively as they can. >> the coalition corrected the "clerical errors" removing without explanation the monthly reports from last year on trends in security and violence. it now turns out that the number of taliban attacks in 2012 was flat compared to 2011. did n

secretary panetta will testify on capitol hill about benghazi before leaving the pentagon. >> that is right. he hadn't planned to. but the threats from some lawmakers to potentially hold up a vote on chuck hagel on panetta's replacement pressed the pentagon to have panetta go up on to capitol hill to testify before the senate armed services committee next thursday. that is the same day that the senate is expected to vote on hagel's nomination. meanwhile, secretary of state john kerry was sworn in today during a private ceremony on capitol hill. he made headlines telling the boston globe president obama picked him for the job a week before susan rice withdrew her name over the benghazi controversy, which is a different timeline of what we have known before now. bret? jennifer griffin, live from the state department. thank you. 17% of male marines say they will leave the corps if women move in combat positions. in the survey done before the pentagon announced women could serve in combat, male marines worried about being falsely accused of sexual harassment or assault. >>> still ahead

we've been at war for so long. joining me now, a member of the bush pentagon's defense policy board, michael hastings author of the new digital book "panic 2012, the sublime and terrifying inside story of obama's final campaign ♪ ♪ barbara siegel, also washington correspondent for the middle east website al monitor.com. great to have you all here. >> thank you. >> so i am -- well, where to start? i think the lessons unlearned to me was the most troubling. it seemed to me we had a moment in 2008 particularly in which president obama articulated this kind of alternative foreign policy vision and did so quite forthrightly. for instance, negotiations with iran and ahmadinejad. and somehow four years later, we've moved backwards, right? the old -- i guess as we've gotten further away from the debacle of iraq, as that's more remote in people's memory, there's more and more the sense of iraq ended up okay and you saw this -- i thought it was so interesting, it was the relitigation of the surge. because that in some ways is this key narrative plot point that somehow redeem tess entire w

the pentagon. as gop senators demand more answers about the benghazi terror attack, white house charges they are playing politics with national security. we talk with the man leading the call for more information, senator lindsey graham. his tee party response to the state of the union speech was critical to both the president and the gop. we will ask senator rand paul what he thinks of the obama agenda as well as republican policy. also, it is less than two weeks until big automatic spending cuts kick in. we will ask the sunday panel will congress will reach a deal before the sequester deadline. and outraged our power player of the week helps the senate make history by keeping track of history. all right now on "fox news sunday." >> chris: and hello again from fox news in washington. senate republicans made history this week, blocking a nominee for defense is secretary for the first time ever. they are demanding more information about the nominee former senator chuck hagel and about the benghazi terror attack. joining me now one of the senators leading the charge, republican li

, he has to be a tough -- a tough guy at the pentagon. he is going to be tough with congress. he has to deal with the potential of the sequester, fighting for the budget that he does get, dealing with all of the problems that come at you when you are in charge of the pentagon and the generals and the other members of the joint chiefs are going to feel they can run over him. >> we'll see about that. i assume that every general with any number of stars was watching intently yesterday, and might have had that thought in mind. you said another important word, which is sequester. it's going to be a huge mess over there trying to, first, anticipate this, and then deal with whatever the new reality is. i do think that it was ugly yesterday. it was ugly on both sides. the white house wasn't so much from what i heard defending his performance as saying that those mean republicans also performed in an ugly and bad and not very attractive way. i don't think anybody looked particularly good in that showdown. i also think it's very clear that this is, you know, we love it, but washington theater,

avoid the across the board spepdinding cuts that will slash the pentagon budget. >> this is not a game. this is reality. these steps would seriously damage a fragile american economy and they would degrade our ability to respond to crisis precisely at a time of rising instability across the globe. this is no way to govern the united states of america. this budgetary crisis creates uncertainty. it creates doubt and most importantly from my point of view, it undermines the men and women in uniform who are willing to put their lives on the line in order to protect this country. >> those planned budget cuts are part of the sequestration deal agreed to by congress as part of annest to force compromise on the national debt. house speaker john boehner says although he opposes the automatic cuts, republicans are not willing to back a plan that involves new tax revenue as the president has called for. >> i don't like the sequester. i think it's taking a meat ax to our government. a meat ax to many programs and it will weaken our national defense. now that's why i fought to not have this se

answer is, i will defer that judgment to history. >> chuck hagel and the battle for the pentagon. >> the good news is, for the verse time in many years, republicans and democrats seem ready to tackle this problem together. >> the immigration problem. has somebody been reading exit polls? >> too many children are dying. too many children. >> also, the fight over gonds. >> law-abiding gun owners will not accept the blame for acts of violence or deranged criminals. >> the word on hillary in 2016. will she or won't she? >> i have no plans to run. >> thursday was not a good day for chuck hagel, president obama's tourist to be his next defense secretary. his old friend and fellow vietnam veteran john mccain jump all over hagel for opposing the surge in iraq. >> were you correct or incorrect when you said the search would be the most dangeus foreign policy blunder in this country since vietnam? correct or incorrect? yes or no? are you going to answer the question, senator hagel? the question is, were you right or wrong? i would like to answer whether you were right or wrong. and you are

today, the pentagon and much of washington could be very different place. march 1 is the day, massive sending cuts are schedule -- spending cuts are scheduled to kick in. they with warning of impact in every city and town in country. there is major concern tonight about the u.s. military. jennifer griffin reports from the pentagon. >> congress left town. when they come back in ten days they will have five days to act if they want to stop the huge budget cuts known as sequestration. here is one thing republicans and the democrats can agree upon. >> we used every adjective known to man to say this is dumb. can we agree this is a dumb thing? >> yes. >> okay. >> yet the finger pointing continues. >> mr. speaker, we are on the brink of achieve republican policy of sequester. >> speaker of the house taken to call it president's sequester. the defense secretary put it more bluntly. >> we need to find solutions. we can't sit here and complain and blame others. we have can't point fingers at each other. >> army chief ray odinero warn it may push him to expand deployment and extend tours to 15

who's going to head the pentagon. and let me tell you this, ryan, tell you how blatantly inconsistent and unprecedented this is. he said in 2005 that presidential nominees shouldn't be filibustered. "i think the president is entitled to an up or down that is a simple majority. voter nominations both to his cabinet and to the executive branch and, also, to the judiciary. 2005 up or down vote, nominees for cabinet and judiciary and executive branch. now, he's leading a filibuster, ryan. >> yeah, that easter's exactly . if the republicans want to pick who the cabinet secretaries are, then they have to elect a president. they didn't win the presidential election, therefore, they -- i guess they should be thankful he's picking a republican. john mccain said earlier this is partly about benghazi but it's also about the simple fact that they don't like chuck hagel. they said they don't like him. mccain said you can disagree without being disagreeable and ha hagel is disz agreeable. >> they don't like him, but he was a republican senator. and they've smeared him. you would think this guy is s

as many people stated down in newtown. i'm here to speak up for my son. >>> at the pentagon, chuck hagel finally takes over as defense chief. >> i will do everything in my power to be the kind of leader that you expect and you deserve. also, the kind of leader the country expects and deserves. >>> john kerry takes paris. [ speaking foreign language ] >> not bad at all. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington in english today. the historic voting rights act could be in danger as a number of supreme court justices overturned the 1965 law. nbcs justice correspondent pete williams joins me now from the supreme court. pete, from the arguments today, what is your impression of what way the court might be moving? >> well, you know, the court didn't come with a blank slate. four years ago, the court looked at the same question and laid down a marker. we were watching to see if the justices that were skeptical then changed their mind? the answer is no. five votes to strike down a key part of the voting rights act. it's a law that requires states with a history of discrimination to get p

. >> good morning ainsley, first things first that top job at the pentagon since we are one day closer to the devastating automatic cuts to the defense departments potentially being brought about by the sec quest tore on the first of march. even during such an uncertain time some republicans want to make sure the correct person is installed as defense secretary. they are ready to keep asking questions until they are satisfied enough to vote one way or another on chuck hagel. >> the debate on chuck payihage not over. it has not been serious. we don't have the information we need and i am going to fight the idea of jamming somebody through until we get answers about what the president did personally when it came to the benghazi debacle. i think democrats have no problem doing that with bush and they did the country a service by probing in. >> terri reed who is generally okay with the policies says public obligation is generally political. >> nom nae for secretary of defense has been filibuster. what a shame. that is the way it is. >> john brennan mostly because he hasn't perceived the answe

threaten future relationships in the pentagon in his ability to do the job. >> if i were chuck hagel i'd go to the president and say do you still have confidence in me? do you think i could do the job. >> you would offer to potentially withdraw? >> you've got to if you think you're not going to be effective because of what's happened. >> the whole issue isn't getting confirmed. it's whether he'll have political capital as defense secretary to work with the congress and generals in a meaningful way. >>> coming up next, part of a one on one discussion i had with a man who has had just about every powerful position in washington other than the presidency, defense secretary leon panetta on his four decades in washington, the morality of drone strikes and advice he has for president obama. >>> plus the pack men, karl rove's new plan to pour cold water on the tea party and keep senate seats in the republican column. today's politics planner, as you can see, former president clinton will be speaking at ed koch's funeral, president obama is off to minneapolis and chris christie hits letterma

. >> i believe he's the wrong person to lead the pentagon at this perilous and consequential time. >> tea party senator ted cruz tried to gin up an old conservative bogeyman. >> i'd like to draw your attention to an interview you did in 2009 with al jazeera. >> but here's the real reason. these guys don't want chuck hagel in the defense department. this is the bomb bomb iran crowd. you see, mccain and graham have led the charge for possible war against the iranians as well as syria. chuck hagel sees war as an absolute last resored. it that's why president obama picked him. the two share similar views in philosophy as the obama administration attempts to define the role of the united states in the transition to a post-superpower world. their philosophy is this. the united states must get out of these massive land wars, iraq and afghanistan, and if possible avoid future large-scale war. despite all of the posturing and starcraft, hagel's nomination, well, is not in jeopardy. not one senator who previously voiced support for hagel has changed his or her mind. i think a lot of this ha

president's pentagon choice finds hit -- his worst enemies in his own party. covering the week, david wessel of "the wall street journal." vaughn johnson of national joran. kirn tumulty of the national post and doyle mcmanus of the national times. >> award-winning reporting and nanls -- analysis, covering history as it happens. live in our nation's capital, this is "washington week with gwen ifill and national journal." corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> this rock has never stood still. since 1875 we've been there for our clients through good times and bad. when their needs changed we were there to meet them. through the years from insurance to investment management from real estate to retirement solutions, we've developed new ideas for the financial challenges ahead. ro his tck has never stoodhi still, and that's one thing that will never change. prudential. >> additional corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by boeing. additional funding is provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contribution

president. his pick to lead the pentagon. i'm going to talk about that in a bit. >>> i'm toure in east lansing, michigan. a new salvo today in the civil war. republicans signing on in support of gay marriage. welcome to the modern world, you guys. >>> speaking of battles. didn't think you'd escape an hour without the sequester fight. yep, the koubd clock is officially ticking. >> you want to go here again, s.e.? >> you go. >>> nancy pelosi called it a drive-by congress and speeding america toward another fiscal cliff. >> me again? >>> all that and first lady exercising political muscle. get it? because she wants us to get fit! >>> groundhog day february 2nd. will have an early spring. if you're wondering. but today is groundhog day in washington, at least that's how leon panetta describes the succession of getting his successor confirmed. con fired cleared a test vote today. same vote he failed two weeks ago. the next vote could come next hour. panetta had two farewell parties and waiting out the last hours of the tenure at the walnut farm in california. hagel, meanwhile, already worki

defense. >> it's time to set aside this partisanship. the pentagon needs a seasoned leader to implement cuts. u.n. the 12 days since the filibuster not one single thing has changed. not one. yet republicans had to have their filibuster for make their pointless partisan point. they are children. the president's pick for treasury secretary will have a he'dier time. approved the nomination of jacob lew. the vote after a three-hour confirmation hearing with he was pressed just a little bit about working sat citigroup after the financial collapse. unlike the manufactured crisis of bengahzi neither republicans nor democrats have made a national issue about the shaky investments, bailouts that lew has seen. we're more squinting after the smallest sign of progress on the sequester. the the white house and the congress have until wednesday night to avert the cross the board cuts. to highlight those cuts president obama went to newport news shipbuilding but it's dependent on military spending that is due to be slashed this friday. >> obama: the reason why we're even thinking about the s

who he called, what he did, only talked about pentagon, defense secretary, once, that he never called anybody in libya, and, are you also surprised -- i'm not saying -- i'm astonished, the administration refused to give congress the fbi interviews with the survivors of benghazi. >> those are good questions and are always unanswered in questions like this but the hagel confirmation is not the forum to get that kind of information. there is another dimension here and that is, what are democratic senators really thinking about the hagel nomination? i understand some of them actually called the white house and said, is hagel going to withdraw? would he consider withdrawing, the answer is an emphatic "no" and, remember, john erlichmen, nixon's aide used to talk about twisting slowly in the wind and the factor here is time and there is this twisting in the wind aura to all of this, and i wonder whether the democrats are kind of looking and asking what really is the fundamental question here, is he the best person to be secretary of defense? >> chris: all right. we have to take a brea

last-ditch new wave of opposition from senators and headaches. looks like the pentagon pick will get confirmed in about 100 hours. also this morning, a question that sounds like a riddle. why are hispanic candidates having trouble winning over hispanic voters? a deep dive into the numbers that tell an interesting tale that you may not have known. and the 2016 friday free for all. rubio, warren, cruz, omaly, and more, bunch of them making moves big and small. we're going to keep track of it once a week, this year. >> good morning from madison, wisconsin, it's friday, february 22nd, and this is "the daily rundown." here's chuck todd. >> thanks to alex for braving the cold weather there at the universe of wisconsin. keep those clips coming. let's get to my first reads of the morning. next tuesday the senate will vote on chuck hagel's confirmation and barring any last-minute surprises, hagel will be confirmed. his opponents are running out of time. opponents hoped that bying time with a filibuster would work. the last 24 hours really does feel like a last gasp from opponents who understa

your sunshine. don't go away. >>> right now, the pentagon has grounded its entire pleat of brand new f-35 fighter jets because of a cracked engine blade. the crack eed blade was found during a routine inspection. pentagon officials ordered all 64 jets from the air force, navy, and marine corps grounded until they figure out the cause of the problem. a spokesman for the company that makes the jets says none of the other f-35s have cracks. >>> if you have a plane to catch in the next few week, the sequestration showdown could have an impact on you. we're looking live at capitol hill where lawmakers will return monday. if nothing gets done, transportation officials say furloughs would be likely for tsa agents and air traffic controllers. the national zoo might have to make tough decisions as well if a budget deal isn't reached. it's facing major cuts as part of the sequester, but how much is still up in the air. megan mcgrath has more. >> reporter: it's not typically what comes to mind when you think about federal agencies, but as part of the smithsonian institution, the national zoo de

the pentagon for weeks preparing for the transition and first battle will be a budget war. the dod is faced with cuts even in the next seven months alone of $43 billion. cuts to training, grounded planes, docked warships. all things the president referred to today at a shipyard. >> main reason i'm here is to call attention to the important work you're doing on behalf of the nation's defense and to let the american people know that this work along with hundreds of thousands of jobs are currently in jeopardy because of politics in washington. these cuts are wrong. they're not smart. they're not fair. >> michael hersh is chief correspondent at "the national journal." so let's start there. there's this notion that if he's confirmed and i think we all expect that he will be that he'll enter defense in some kind of a weakened position after not so great confirmation hearing and then this really okay ro moan you battle over the confirmation. what kind of tangible consequences will that have? how will the job as defense secretary be more difficult because he had a tough run? >> well, becau

abcnews.com/thisweek and now good news to report for the third week in a row the pentagon released no names of service members killed in afghanistan. but there was a reminder of service and sacrifice of our soldiers there on monday president obama awarded the medal of honor to army veteran clint romesha whose son told a bit of the spotlight before the ceremony began. romesha fought back tears as he was presented with the award for leading a charge against taliban fighters who attacked a small outpost in 2009. eight americans died in that battle. we honor the service of romesha and all of those soldiers. and finally, your voice this week, the question comes from yasin who asks "where can i rewatch your programs can." thank you for watching. evi episode issal variable at our website, abcnews.com/thisweek or check out our web only interviews like this morning newt gingrich will be sticking around to answer your questions much that's all for us today. thank you for sharing part of your sunday with us. check out with"world news with d muir" tonight. george will be back next week and we hope you

--www.ncicap.org-- >> sequestration. march 1st is the deadline. a pentagon warns 800,000 employees will have to and federalleave cut inrs will taka 20% for six months. flying will be a little tougher. long lines at the airport, avel delays. wt to be careful what you eat. food safety inspectors will be effected. fbi and other law enforcent will ta a hit. salary for members of congress is safe. they say nonone of this was to happen. >> it was never meant to become unimplemented policy. they face a simple choice. they willing to compromise, protectct vital investments in education, health care, national curity, and all the jobs that depend on them? would rather put hundreds of jobs and our economy at risk to protect a few tax loopholesst benefit the biggest corporatns and wealthy americans? that's the choice. the sequeration was nev as jayo be implemented, carney says, why wasn't implend? the president is the one guy all this andabove he's just playing politics. >> are we having fun yet? we are not. is a sense off sleepwalking towards march 1st. republicans are making a serious political mistake t

going to make them look healthy. >> they quoted a pentagon official sang, "it really scares the hell out of me." doesn't scare you? >> it scares me if it goes on for a long period you cannot get to be them without no sense of responsibility. the president is leading, but he's not leading in the direction that he wants. he is leading to blame the republicans, which i suspect he will succeed in because as "the new york times" said, it is a suicide dive down they will get blamed. the only answer is to get together and obama thinks he has them on the ropes and republicans nnot seem to get themselves together. >> we just heard dr. paul say it was the president's idea. wasn't it? >> who cares? it's a bad idea on both sides. it's the blame game. it is the president's responsibility far more than anyone else, particularly a second term president who just won reelection. it's his responsibility to rise above this nonsense. he's not doing it. >> ought to show you something. this was a cover durinthe mid- 1990's and the speaker of the house complained that he had to exit air force one by t